Archive for December, 2008

Pocket Informant for iPhone will be showing a near final release at MacWorld Expo this January 6-9th in San Francisco. “We are very excited about this release as we are able to bring our award-winning productivity software to a powerful new platform. Of course, we took time to leverage many of the iPhone’s unique capabilities and while Pocket Informant is brand new to the iPhone, we have a vision for this product that’s very exciting. Version 1.00 is a powerful GTD tool and Google Calendar client. See us at MacWorld for a demo.”

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A new service called Rentobile is offering phone rentals from 1 month to one year in length. Rates vary from $20 per month for the Samsung Epix to $51 for 16gb iPhone 3g or Nokia E90. Right now their selection is fairly limited, with just 4 or 5 models per carrier, and a few unlocked choices. If they don’t have the phone you want, you can make a request. Currently the site is pretty barebones and needs a little refinement, but I love the concept. I can think of several reasons why you would want to se a service like this. These days, when high end smartphones can cost $700 or more, paying $50 to test drive a phone for a month is a good idea.

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2008 was a great year for Mobile Technology, we saw the iPhone 3G launch, the first HTC Diamond handset which changed the face of Windows Mobile, the first Android handset and even a touch screen Blackberry for the first time. Lets hope 2009 brings us many more great devices to talk about and review. 2009 will see the site expand as we have three new writers joining us to give their views on Mobile Tech. Melissa, Micah and Harry who all have loads of experience to share. Thank you for visiting Mobile Tech Addicts this year and from all the team we wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. Happy 2009!!!!!!!

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The Sony Ericsson W595 is yet another addition to the ever expanding Walkman range of phones by Sony Ericsson so what sets the W595 aside from its fellow devices in the Walkman family and more importantly for Sony Ericsson how does it compare to competitors devices.

The W595 from Sony Ericsson feels fairly substantial both when closed and open with this in mind the phone feels nice and light and will certainly not be weighing your pocket down any time soon.

Styling wise the W595 is nothing special but is certainly pleasant on the the eye and a device you will not be ashamed to be seen using.

The front of the device is rather smart looking it does not possess ground breaking styling but is pleasant on the eye and you certainly won’t be embarrassed to be seen with the W595. As for buttons on the front of W595 there is a 4 way directional control which double as playback control with a central selection button. Surrounding these to the right are menu and call buttons as well as the cancel key same to the left with the cancel key being replaced by a shortcut button for quick access to applications etc.

W595 front view

When open, the phone houses a decent sized numeric keypad with fairly responsive buttons this is the only addition to the phone when open.

Sony Ericsson W595 keypad

The left hand side of the phone houses the proprietary connector obviously for the phones charger and connecting headphone.

W595 left side

The right side of the phone is home to a 2 way volume control and also the phones Walkman feature quick launch for easy access to the devices music playback functions.

W595 right side

The back of the device has the usual necessities such as the batter cover etc. Also located on the back is 3.2 Mega-Pixel camera also capable of video capture.

W595 back view

Located on the bottom of the W595 is the large speaker for playback and sounds, there’s another speaker on the other side too.

W595 bottom view

The Sony Ericsson W595 is yet another addition to the ever expanding range of Walkman mobile phones, the W595 comes packed with features full of promise but will it live up to its fellow devices and more importantly for Sony Ericsson any rivals. Will the device offer any groundbreaking new features and functions or our we looking at the safe option and Sony Ericsson sticking to what they know?

Styling wise the W595 is an attractive device similar in style to Sony Ericsson’s W910 mobile and unlike many other phones in the Walkman Series the W595 is a slider. The phone feels fairly substantial in the hand and continues to feel well built when both open and closed.

If you have owned or used a Sony Ericsson device before menu navigation on the W595 will be nothing new to you with the standard icons and quick keys. The phones Camera is 3.2 Mega Pixel and picture quality is good but not fantastic and compared to other phones with similar spec cameras it does not really come up to scratch, however having said that the phone does have some nice features for photo editing Sony Ericsson Photo DJ as well as the standard image tools such as night mode, effects etc. The phone also has the ability to record video at 15fps which again is not terrible but compared to other devices the results seem to be lacking with the W595.

Being a Walkman phone it would seem wrong to write this review without talking about the phones multimedia capabilities. First of all memory wise the phone comes packed with a 2GB M2 card however the phone has support for up to a 8GB M2 card which should be enough for around 1900 tracks this is not ideal storage wise when compared to the capacity of say the Ipod or other MP3 players however when you consider the things the W595 does that an MP3 player does not it doesn’t seem like such a bad deal. The process of transferring music from your PC to the phone is simple as always either via the USB cable provided or through the use of Bluetooth.

The phones’ included headphones are not bad quality however if you do have a preferred pair the 3.5mm plug adapter allows for use of your own headphones with the device. As for playback support as expected the phone has most formats covered with support of MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA. Sound Quality through the W595’s inbuilt speaker is loud and not bad with only a little muffling of sound however when played through headphones no such problems seem to arise and the quality is good enough to rival any MP3 player currently on the market. The phone also includes an FM radio and supports the wonderful TrackID allowing for quick and easy identification of songs when the device is being held to loud music.

As for connectivity the phone is rather well connected for a device of this price the phone has support for 3G, Bluetooth 2.0, EGDE, GPRS etc. As for functions and features the W595 is very similar in this department to those that have come before it with the inclusion of standard features such as organiser and alerts as well the inclusion of some surprisingly addictive games to keep you busy on the bus. The phone is simple to use day to day I experienced no problems with the receiver muffling and the sound on speaker phone was clear and substantial. Tasks such as text input whether it be for an email or text message I found no problems with the keys they are reasonably spaced and posed no problems for those suffering with large thumbs.

As for the nitty gritty Battery life is quoted at around 370hrs stand by and up to around 9 hours talk time however as with any mobile this will always vary depending on how much you use the phone and for what you use the phone for so for personally I did not have any major obvious problems with battery life but that is not to say others who use the phone for heavier use will not experience different times etc. However overall a fairly decent battery life allowing for good every day use.

Conclusion

Overall the W595 is a great addition to the Walkman range although it does really offer anything groundbreaking it is always nice for a little updated styling and functionality within any given mobile series. The W595 is easy to use for mobile users of any age however given its music features and other multimedia functionality the phone would be great for the younger mobile user mid to late teens would be the perfect recipient of the W595.

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Shopping wisely has become incredibly easy for G1 users. ShopSavvy is a really impressive application that is offered in the Android Marketplace. It basically works like this – Lets say you want to find the best deal on a Beatle’s “Love” CD. It gives you the option to either scan the barcode of the CD by using the G1’s 3.0 megapixel camera or by manually typing the item’s name.

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Our latest podcast is now available to download, in episode 18 we discuss the rumoured iPhone nano, Xperia X1 cracking, Sling Player software updates, iPhone 3G unlock, iPhone Apps, general mobile news and much more. You can subscribe via iTunes, RSS or download the mp3 file here. Full show notes after the break.

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The US Patent office has recently published a couple of patent applications for new keyboard designs. One by RIM the maker of Blackberry, and one by Nokia. RIM’s patent application consists of a standard 9 key keypad that that expands to a qwerty keyboard at the touch of a button. This is achieved with the use of flip-out wings on either side of the phone. It is an interesting concept, but it looks like using this phone with its qwerty keyboard out will require a little bit of thumb gymnastics. Details on Nokia’s application after the break

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The rumours about a forthcoming iPhone nano are building up ahead of Macworld in January and now another case manufacturer has posted a page where you can register your interest for an iPhone Nano case. This time though it is the well respected case manufacturer Vaja who are spilling the beans or just adding to the rumour. Obviously nothing concrete from Apple and we won’t know anything for sure until January’s event but this is getting harder to ignore. If it is true then Apple will be furious that these case manufacturers are slipping information out in this way.

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Several months ago we told you that the Zest would soon be available on O2 and not long before Christmas O2 finally released the handset. Made exclusively for O2 by Asus and based upon the Galaxy 7 the Zest looks like being an extremely capable device with a speedy 624mHz CPU coupled with 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, VGA screen and built in GPS.

The O2 XDA Zest

Steve has been putting the Zest through it’s paces over the past few weeks and his review will be here in the next few days. Until then here’s the unboxing video:

O2 XDA Zest unboxed

You can also head over to YouTube and watch the XDA Zest unboxing video in HD, just click on the watch in HD link under the video when you reach the YT page.

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When most people think of Symbian, they think of Nokia, but Samsung also makes some nice S60 phones. According to Symbian Guru, Samsung’s newest flagship S60 device has passed the FCC with a special treat for S60 fans in the US and Canada. According to documents on the FCC website the i8510 includes dual band HSDPA that’s compatible with AT&T’s 3G network in the US, and Roger’s 3G network in Canada. The i8510 Innov8 includes an 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and image stabilization, A-GPS, and a 3.5mm headset jack. This is shaping up to be an interesting alternative to the Nokia N96. It would be great if carriers in North America pick up this device.”